IOC putting WADA to the test

Stephen Wilson, London

THE IOC has decided to hold a conference on the role of the World Anti-Doping Agency amid increasing tensions over how the fight against performance-enhancing drugs is being run.

IOC director general Christophe De Kepper said that the meeting will be held in Lausanne, Switzerland, in late April or early May with international sports federations, national Olympic committees and athletes.

The IOC executive board acted on a formal request by Francesco Ricci Bitti, head of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations, which represents the 26 sports in the Games.

''Relations with WADA have deteriorated significantly and the lack of help and support from WADA against a background of constant media criticism of its sports 'partners' and the consequent breakdown of trust need to be addressed as a priority,'' Ricci Bitti, an Italian who is president of the International Tennis Federation, said in a letter to IOC president Jacques Rogge.

The move comes amid strained relations between the IOC and WADA, an organisation that it created in 1999 to lead the global anti-doping fight. The IOC and Olympic movement provide 50 per cent of WADA's annual budget.

The Lance Armstrong scandal has triggered a nasty public feud between WADA and the UCI, cycling's governing body and a member of ASOIF. WADA has also singled out soccer and tennis for not doing enough testing.

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''There is a real fear that if it goes any further, then the level of co-operation will go even lower. Let's take this opportunity and have a real look at it,'' ASOIF director Andrew Ryan said on Friday.

De Kepper said the conference will also address the issues of illegal betting, autonomy of sports bodies and the sports calendar.

Also to be discussed is the future leadership of WADA and the successor to current president John Fahey, whose six-year term expires at the end of 2013.

The WADA presidency alternates between the Olympic movement and governments.

Fahey, a former Australian finance minister, succeeded IOC member Dick Pound as WADA president in 2007 as the representative of governments.

The IOC is scheduled to nominate the next WADA president at the fourth World Conference of Doping in Sport in Johannesburg in November.

IOC and sports federation officials have expressed irritation with recent public statements by Fahey.

They have also said that nearly $500 million is spent each year on doping controls with few athletes being caught in the tests.

WADA's current annual budget is $26 million, with $13 million provided by the Olympic movement and the other half by governments.

''Trust has broken down,'' Ryan said.

''The body that can lead us to a better place with this is the IOC. They can look at how we move the fight against doping into a more cooperative spirit instead of the current situation of criticising everyone.''

Last year, WADA leaders criticised the IOC for not retesting more of the 3000-plus samples from the 2004 Athens Olympics.